


Fall Out/Make Up

by zenonaa



Series: LGBT Pride Month [9]
Category: Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: F/F, lgbt pride month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 07:29:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19168612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenonaa/pseuds/zenonaa
Summary: 'As soon as she hit the enter key, Alter Ego’s face transformed. The space they occupied filled with ones and zeroes, and the silhouette of numbers morphed into another shape. Within it, a new face appeared, that of Celestia Ludenberg.Kyouko’s eyes burned.“You idiot,” said Kyouko.A beat passed.“I left a pause because I assume you are going to insult me,” said Alter Ego.“You fool,” Kyouko said, raising her hushed voice a little. “You complete and utter, selfish, fool.”Alter Ego didn’t answer right away.“I anticipated that too.”'Kirigiri discovers that Celes left a message for her with Alter Ego.





	Fall Out/Make Up

The noren rustled as Kyouko passed through it, entering the locker room adjoined to the public bath area. Her surroundings screamed silence at her, and for a while, she stood still in the middle of the room with her fists clenched. Then, slowly, she raised one of her hands and opened it up like a lily blooming. A golden earring rested in her palm, an orb studded with a red gem.

Kyouko’s fingers sprung back into a fist, and gritting her teeth, she hurled the earring at the checkered flooring. It thunked against it and then rolled somewhere. She didn’t follow its trajectory, instead glaring downward at an invisible spot by her feet. Here in the locker room, which lacked the cameras monitoring almost everywhere else in Hope’s Peak, she could finally stop tensing her face. The cracks she had stubbornly closed reopened and shoulders shaking, she dropped to one knee.

“Idiot,” Kyouko said through her teeth. This needn’t have happened. They could have avoided this.

She scrunched her eyes shut and fought down a sob that tried to escape. It lodged in her throat, hard and painful. Her eyes were barely open, but they were open enough for her to notice the green light slipping out from the gaps in one of the lockers. Even if she hadn’t been able to see it, the buzzing originating from that particular locker would have grabbed her attention. Staying down on her knee for a few seconds more, Kyouko then stood up, approached the locker and opened it.

The cheery face of Alter Ego greeted her on the laptop and really did look a lot like Chihiro.

“Hello!” Alter Ego said, a floating head rocking from side to side. “Sorry, it’s quite dark! That’s Kirigiri-san, isn’t it?”

“Yes, that’s me,” said Kyouko, her voice coming out not quite as even as she would like. Then, remembering she had to type in order for Alter Ego to understand her, she tapped her fingertips against the keyboard.

This was Kyouko, yes.

“Is it just you here, Kirigiri-san?” asked Alter Ego. The keyboard clicked loudly as Kyouko responded. Alter Ego nodded. “I have a message for you, Kirigiri-san. Would you like to hear it?”

She blinked, raising her eyebrows momentarily only to lower them again in a furrow, and she typed a request to know who it was from.

“Ah, yes! Of course. It’s from Celes-san,” said Alter Ego.

Her heart swooped. It felt like someone kicked her in the gut.

“From before she passed away, I mean,” explained Alter Ego, their features crumpling a little.

Passed away was a light way of putting it. A white lie. The name of her deceased classmate caused Kyouko’s arms to stiffen. Her chest to clench. She didn’t reply right away, staring at Alter Ego as they bobbed up and down patiently.

Finally, she typed, and she typed, 

‘Show me.’

As soon as she hit the enter key, Alter Ego’s face transformed. The space they occupied filled with ones and zeroes, and the silhouette of numbers morphed into another shape. Within it, a new face appeared, that of Celestia Ludenberg.

Kyouko’s eyes burned. 

“You idiot,” said Kyouko.

A beat passed.

“I left a pause because I assume you are going to insult me,” said Alter Ego.

“You fool,” Kyouko said, raising her hushed voice a little. “You complete and utter, selfish, fool.”

Alter Ego didn’t answer right away.

“I anticipated that too,” they admitted, glancing away, and then they returned their gaze to Kyouko, brow creased. “If you’re hearing this, then it must mean that I failed and I am dead. You must be furious with me, Kirigiri-san. Here I was, going on and on about how we needed to adapt to this prison in order to survive, only for me to... go ahead and try to kill you all.”

Kyouko gripped the edge of the locker’s bottom panel tightly.

“Of course, it wasn’t all about the money, but I have to admit that I could have done with it,” Alter Ego said in a light, casual tone. “You see, Kirigiri-san, I am not rich. Not only that, but many of the tales about my past gambles are fabricated, based on stories I have come across.”

A cursor dragged over to the side of Alter Ego’s head by itself and began to twirl a loose strand of Alter Ego’s hair.

“I am just very good at lying,” they explained. “As the youngest of ten sisters, why, it comes naturally to me.”

“Ten?” repeated Kyouko. Alter Ego’s lips thinned.

“Yes. Ten,” said Alter Ego, astutely guessing what Kyouko would say. “All of us look alike. Hatsuko, Ami, Miwa, Shiko, Goko, Rokuko, Nana, Hachiko and Kyuko. To put it lightly, it drove me insane, always being compared to them, wearing the same outfits, being mistaken for one of them. Being a plain, common girl... Therefore, I became Celestia Ludenberg, legendary gambler.”

Kyouko didn’t know what to say, her mouth ajar, so she waited for Alter Ego to continue.

“A lot of my earnings went toward the outfit that you so associate me with, as well as travelling and keeping up appearances. Really, the only gambling I did was knowing who to lie to and how far to go with my lies. I got where I am with lies and deceit, not supernatural luck. Now, Kirigiri-san...”

Alter Ego inclined their head, gazing at her.

“... I’m sorry that I won’t be with you anymore. I couldn’t adapt. I couldn’t bear staying here when I hadn’t yet accomplished my dream of being a truly unique, beloved woman in a castle, tended to by endless servants and surrounded by riches. I couldn’t stay here even... if it meant spending the rest of my life with you,” said Alter Ego. Their sombre expression didn’t change. “Kirigiri-san, you mean a great deal to me. More than I can admit to. You better not die in here. I would say that I would tear your ear off in the afterlife if you did, but I don’t think we will end up in the same place.”

“Celes-san,” murmured Kyouko, even though no one else could hear.

“I don’t want to take up too much more of your time, darling,” said Alter Ego, forcing a smile. “Just... This is a selfish request, but please remember me. Whether it’s with fondness or with hate, remember me every once in a while. I... I like you very much, Kirigiri-san.”

Kyouko bit her lip. Hunched her shoulders.

“You could even say... I feel for you another four letter word, beginning and ending with the same letters as ‘like’,” said Alter Ego. 

The revelation snatched the breath out of Kyouko. She blinked, then gave a faint smile.

“I love you too, Celes-san,” said Kyouko.

There was a long pause.

“... I don’t know what you said,” Alter Ego admitted. “You really are annoying, you know. I can’t read you at all. So goodbye, Kirigiri-san. May we be born again in the same lifetime.”

Alter Ego dissolved into numbers and Chihiro’s face soon reappeared.

“... and that is the message that Celes-san left me,” Alter Ego said. They focused on Kyouko and frowned. “Um... Kirigiri-san, are your eyes leaking?”

“I’m fine,” said Kyouko. She gave her eyes a single swipe with the back of her hand. “Thank you. Good night, Alter Ego.”

“Good night!” they chirped, and Kyouko closed the laptop. Then she shut the locker and searched the floor for the discarded earring in the limited lighting.

Once she found it, she sat on her heels, concealed it in her hand and placed it over her heart, sitting as motionless as the rest of the room.


End file.
